


A Padawan's Journey

by Ender_Konno



Category: Star Wars: Rebels, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:08:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28030668
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ender_Konno/pseuds/Ender_Konno
Summary: A Padawan's Journey through the Clone Wars and beyond.
Kudos: 3





	1. Info

Prologue

Characters, places, and things you may want visuals for in the story.

(will be updated as the story continues)

Character art made using avatar creator made by Rinmaru Games http://www.rinmarugames.com/playgame.php?game_link=star-wars-avatar-creator

Droid art:

BB-42 art was made in photoshop and is my edit.

Clone art:

edited in photophop

Any other images used for reference are not mine and are the property of their creators and owners. 

Ender: a Jedi padawan living through the clone wars. A Padawan to Master Eran, he does science things upon the research vessel the R.S.S. Aphelion. The main character of the story.

Ender's Lightsaber: Ender's personal saber. Created on Illum with master Yoda when he was a youngling. It has more of a mechanical look and feel and it emits a blue blade when ignited. The bottom of the saber has been fused with a hydro-spanner, to add to his dedication to science and engineering after all you never know when something might break.

Master Eran: Ender's Jedi Master. A high-ranking member of the Republic's research division. I kind-hearted and joking woman who is extremely knowledgeable in her field. She is older than most Jedi who has padawans. But as she told Ender, she has just been waiting for the right one.

Master Eran's saber-staff: This is Master Eran's saber-staff. It is made in an older more elegant style. It emits a yellow blade from each end. (image is taken from tor) 

R.S.S Aphelion: A trident class Republic research vessel, home to Ender, Master Eran, and Sigma Squad. While armed with a cannon, it is not meant for battle, instead, its primary focus is data collection and transportation.

BB-42: A Prototype BB unit built by Ender. It was constructed out of old astromech parts and materials found onboard the old research vessel. It is equipped with multiple scientific instruments and sensors to aid in whatever research Ender is doing. 

Sigma Squad: The Squad of Clone Troopers Assigned to Master Eran and Ender. There are Five Members in the Squad: Commander Watt, Amp, Webber, Maxwell, and Newt.


	2. Chapter 1

Journal Entry: 156

Glancing out the window, the stars moving as we orbited the moon of Rennok. My master and I had been sent out here to study the molten surface of the moon. There is not much to report about our findings. It seems like the moon orbits in and out of the Roche limit causing the moon to constantly be pulled and stretched, forcing tectonic activity to resume on what would be a long-dead planet. Master Eran, concluded the study today and we will be reporting back to the council on coruscant within the week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ender got up from his terminal and looked around his quarters. His lightsaber and robes were tossed haphazardly on his bed, remnants of countless experiments lined the floor. In one corner, the droid he was building sat half constructed. It was a much larger project than he had planned but by the force he was going to finish it. being a part of the research division wasn't bad. There were no massive battles, droid occupations, or clone armies to really speak of. Just endless studies of stars, moons, and planets, and Ender really didn't mind. He grabbed the finished report and walked to the bridge. Master Eran stood at the helm looking out the window as we departed our orbit.

"Here you are master, the report on our findings. It isn't anything extraordinary, but the council will eat it up."

Ender said as he handed the datapad over.

Master Eran turned around and took the pad from him.

"They always enjoy your writings padawan. Now tell me how is the droid project?"

Ender turned toward the window as he answered. 

"It's going alright, I need a better power cell, and the magnetic hold for the head is proving to be a challenge. Oh, and is there any chance we have any extra sensors around? I want to install a lifeform sensor but I don't have the parts." Eran turned toward the window as well.

"Well when we get back to Coruscant, I'm sure we can find the parts you need until then tend to your standard duties around the ship."

"I will master! See you later."

As Ender turned to leave, his master shouted from across the bridge, 

"Oh and Ender! Where is your lightsaber?"

"I must have forgotten it in my room"

"Well you should be carrying that around with you, you never know when some droids might attack."

She gave Ender a wink as he started off towards the lab. She was joking, of course, the republic made sure the Separatists wouldn't attack us. But he should be carrying it around. After all, it's the Jedi's sacred weapon, and even if it isn't used, it's a symbol of who you are. On his way to the lab, Ender stopped by his quarters and picked up his lightsaber and toolkit, placed them on his belt, and set off towards the lab to do his routine experiments.


	3. Chapter 2

Journal entry: 158

We are about four days from Coruscant. I've been working around the clock on either my droid or experiments within the lab. Master Eran was able to secure me all the parts I needed aside from the power core. Aside from that my droid is ready to go. It is a BB unit prototype. It's a new design made by republic Astro-mech engineers. It isn't supposed to start production for another four years or so, but being a research vessel, we get access to all the newest droid and equipment designs. Aside from this, it has not been too eventful around the ship. I know master will have a meeting with the council about our next assignment, and rumor has it we may get a small detachment of clones to travel with us. I wouldn't mind some extra faces around the ship, I just hope we won't be seeing combat. I may have a lightsaber, but it doesn't mean I know how to use it... well, Master is calling I have to go.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ender met with his master in her chambers where she was just closing a hologram.

"Ender, please come have a seat. I just got off with the council."

"The council? I thought you were meeting in person? Is something wrong?"

"Not wrong per se... there has simply been a change of plans."

"What do you mean?"

"Well to start, we will be getting a clone detachment, the council assures me that is I a small regiment for our protection and to help with greater research projects the council wants to conduct."

"Ok, clones shouldn't be too bad. But even with a smaller detachment, it will be a bit crowded in here right?"

"Ah yes, that was the second thing I was informed of. We will be getting a new ship. I am not sure how much you keep up with ship design, but the republic has designed a new class of research vessels designed for wartime. It's called the trident class of ships. Are you familiar?"

Ender knew exactly what she was talking about and couldn't believe his ears. The trident class of ships was the highest end research vessel designed by the republic in decades. Ender tried to hide his excitement as he continued the discussion

"Yes master, I am familiar with it and I believe it is an excellent choice for our crew and new additions. As well as giving us better equipment to advance our findings."

Master Eran nodded thoughtfully

"I agree. Now go pack your things the best you can and since we won't be using this vessel anymore, and we won't be stopping at Coruscant for long.... If you happen to find a misplaced or non-essential power core... I am sure no one will miss it...."

Ender's eyes lit up.

"Yes master, thank you. Was there anything else?"

"No that is all for now. Off with you!"

Ender got up and practically ran to the storage bay. He knew right where he was going. In the far back corner of the storage bay was a group of retired R2 and R5 units. Ender had been allowed to take various pieces from them to build his droid. Sadly, none of them had a working power core. Next to the pile however were the backup laboratory reactors. Ender had set these aside just in case he would be able to convince his master to let him have one. These reactors were what ran most of the individual scanners and pieces of lab equipment. What made them special was how much power they were able to produce. Unlike normal power cells that only store power, these reactors constantly produced power and almost never needed to be charged or replaced. Ender grabbed one and headed off towards his room.

When he got there, he opened the main unit of the droid and began to wire in the reactor. It took him a good half an hour, and a allot of creative thinking, (it turns out the reactor was not meant to go in this particular droid), but he was able to get the reactor installed. Now was the moment of truth he double-checked all the hardware, ran triple diagnostics on the software, made sure the personality chip was properly installed, and the servos would work. He took extra care to make sure the head wouldn't fly off as soon as it powered on. As far as he could tell, everything looks in perfect working order. Ender took a deep breath and powered on the droid. He began to head the humming of the reactor, the whirring of the internal parts, sensors clicking on, and the droid moving slightly as all the servos and motors turned on. He waited 10 seconds, 20, 30, a minute... right when Ender was beginning to get worried, the droid came to life.

"Beep Boop?"

"Hello there, my name is Ender, you're my droid. And your designation is BB-42."


	4. Chapter 3

Journal entry: 163  
I never really enjoy visiting Coruscant… all the people, the obvious political atmosphere…. I much rather enjoy the peace and quiet of open space. To me, there’s nothing like looking over a datapad, while the only sound around is the hum of the hyperdrive. I mean, after all, that is why I ended up with Master Eran. While I was a youngling, I never showed much interest in lightsaber combat or meditating on the force. I would spend as much time as I could in the Jedi archives, learning in the peace and quiet. So when the clone wars had begun and the Jedi were assigning padawans to masters, I wasn’t sent into combat. Master Eran still likes to run me through drills, exercises, and meditations, and when I ask her why… all she says is “there could come a time young one, where you need these skills, and it's my duty to make sure you are ready, should that time come. I still don’t see the point though, I’ve never seen a battle droid let alone had to take one down. But she’s my master so I don’t have much of a say in the matter now do I? Anyway, today we get the new clone squad. Due to the size of our ship, we cannot house full battalions of clones or equipment. So, we have been assigned a group of 8 clones who are here mainly to protect us from pirates and the slim chance we come into contact with the CIS. I’ve gotten settled into the new ship, my room is bigger than my old one and has a workbench big enough to work on an astromech. Now I won’t have to work on the floor. Alright, that’s enough writing for now. Master and I are supposed to meet the clone squad here in a few hours so I guess I better get ready. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ender went to the wardrobe and opened it. currently, he was in his lab gear, just simple coverings, and a lab coat. Normal Jedi robes got too cumbersome in the lab so he would just normally wear this. However, he felt like he should appear a little more professional during his first impressions with the clones. He put on his full Jedi robes and the over cloak as well. He looked in his mirror and cringed. He never did like the way he looked in his cloak, and he had always avoided wearing it. “what do you think buddy?” he turned to bb-42 and showed him the outfit. “I look weird don’t I? “beeooweep” bb-42 said tilting his head to the side. “yeah, thought as much.” Ender ditched the over-cloak and opted for the normal robes and his tool belt. “First impressions are important, but I’m no mace Windu ya know?” “boop weep” the droid seemed to nod in agreement. “Alright, buddy let's go.” “Whoo beep” the two of them made their way to the entry hatch where Master Eran was waiting patiently for them. She was in her full robes, over cloak included. She looked him up and down before saying, “no cloak?” ender looked at the floor, avoiding eye contact. “Nah, BB dint think it looked good, right buddy?” BB-42 franticly nodded his head, also seeming to avoid eye contact with Master Eran. “Well, I think the look suits you padawan.” She looked out towards the landing bay. “Ah here they come, let's go greet them” Master Eran walked down the ramp, Ender and his droid following behind. 

Five clones approached the ship, each had a Sigma on their breastplate and had a different symbol on their shoulders. One clone stepped forward and saluted Master Eran.  
“Maam! I am CT-177, Nickname Watt. This here is Sigma Squad, we have been assigned to you and your ship.”  
“It is nice to meet you, Watt, do the rest of you have names as well?” master Eran replied gesturing to the other four clones.”  
“Yes General, please allow me to introduce the rest of Sigma squad.” Commander Watt gestured to the other clones, introducing them each one saluting Master Eran in turn. “this is CT-622, AKA Amp. This one is CT-981 AKA Webber, Next is CT-314 AKA Maxwell. And lastly CT-217 AKA Newt.”  
“Well it is certainly nice to meet all of you My Name is Jedi Master Eran, this here is my Padawan Ender” She gestures to Ender who waves to the troopers. “it is an honor to have you aboard, and I look forward to getting to know each of you further. Please come inside, Ender will show each of you to your quarters. Our ship is big enough that each of you has your own.”  
“Thank you Maam, common men let's go” Watt lead his men up the ramp and Ender took each of them to their quarters they were on the floor directly below his and Master Eran’s rooms. As they walked through the ship Ender felt rather awkward, he had never been good at meeting new people. He pointed out the various labs and stations as they made their way to the rooms. The clones would ask questions here and there but in the end, it was an overall uneventful time. When they reached the rooms ender said,  
“Alright guys this is your rooms, I’m pretty sure it doesn’t matter who is where, you can find the one you like best and feel free to make them your own. It’s a brand-new ship so help break her in for me.”  
Watt turned to Ender “thank you sir, and well be sure to do so. I know Amp brought posters or something hoping he could decorate a bit. And I'm sure the rest of us will find a way for us to get comfortable. Isn’t that right boys?”  
Newt, Maxwell, and Webber all gave a thumbs up and a “yes sir” and went to the rooms they chose.  
Ender did a quick headcount, “Where’s Amp?”  
Watt looked in each of the rooms, when he reached one of them he looked in and facepalmed and let out a deep sigh. “oh don’t worry sir, he’s just doing exactly what you asked” he gestured to the room.  
Ender walked over and looked inside. His jaw opened then a smile crept on his face, then he gave a solid chuckle, trying to hide it the best he could but it was no use. “Oh by the force, well I'm glad he feels at home” as ender began to laugh, Watt joined in the both of them trying desperately trying to suppress their chuckles.  
Inside the room was a rather large poster of two Twi'lek girls washing a speeder bike, in some rather compromising positions. Similar posters or photographs (some signed) lined the walls of the room. Amp turned to see the two chuckling, and started to blush, looking embarrassed.  
“Is there a problem with these? I can take them down if there is, it's just… I got excited about making this a home ya know.” Amp said as he started to take down a poster of a very skimpily clad Chiss.  
Ender suppressed his chuckles long enough to respond. “No man you're totally ok, just not what I was expecting. As I said make it yours.”  
Amp smiled excitedly and put the poster back up again, his mood clearly lifted.  
Watt turned to Ender, “would you mind taking me to General Eran? There are some things I need to discuss with her, and most likely you as well.”  
“Sure, follow me.”  
Ender lead Watt down the hall to Master Eran’s Office where he knew she would be at this time of day. They talked along the way about the ship, the research equipment, and what projects and experiments Ender had been working on. When they got their her door was open, and Ender could see Master Eran at her desk, glasses on, deeply engrossed in a book.  
Ender Knocked on the Door. “Hey, master may we come in?” Ender got no response.  
Watt spoke up next, “General, may I have a moment of your time?”… no response… Watt looked at Ender confused “is she alright?”  
“Yeah she’s fine, she does this a lot where she zones so completely into her work she can't hear the world around her. Once she read through an entire attack drill with sirens blaring and everything.”  
“Woah… how do we get her attention?”  
“Like this”  
Ender reached his hand out and focused on the force. In just a moment the book came flying to his hand and he caught it. Master Eran looked up a bit perplexed till she saw her padawan in the doorway with the clone commander.  
“ah did I zone out again? My apologies please come in”, she waved them into the office and the two stepped in. “what can I do for you?”  
Watt took a step forward and spoke, “Maam, I've been given the information for your next assignment, would you like them?”  
“yes please, continue,” Master Eran said as she leaned back in her seat. Ender listened intently.  
“Yes Maam, Republic intelligence would like you to go to Genosis and perform in-orbit scans of the surface, and try to compile information about the seismic activity and the surface tunnels made by the Genosions.”  
“Alright, thank you, Watt, anything else?”  
“no Maam that is all”  
“ok then you are dismissed go relax, we will be taking off shortly. Do you need Ender to walk you back to your quarters? Or do you know where it is?  
“Yes, Maam, and ill be alright I can get there just fine.”  
Watt exited the room and made his way down the hall.  
“do you need anything from me master?”  
“No ender you are good to go make sure to do your meditations today”  
“Will do master.”  
Ender left the room, and returned to his where he sat on his bed, and meditated. He felt the ship take off and enter hyperspace. “The next adventure begins.” he thought to himself. He got off the bed after he was finished, and began to tinker on another one of his many projects.


	5. Chapter 4

Journal Entry 165:  
We are about halfway to Genosis. I’m rather nervous to be there. This is supposed to be a non-combat vessel, and yet we are going to the location of the first battle of the Clone War. I know we have Sigma Squad on board, but they can’t stop a fleet of separatist vessels from converging on us. Trust in the force, I guess. Speaking of Sigma Squad, they are actually some cool guys. I had some doubts at first, I am used to being around researchers, and master, ya know…. Smart people focused on research, not guys literally made for combat. But actually, I underestimated the Sigmas. They each are smart and capable and have even helped me out with research now and then. Each of them seems to have their own unique specialty. Watt is a genius at math, and while I’m good, I would say he even rivals Master Eran… just don’t tell her I said that. Webber is a good chemist and is often found in the labs either giving advice to researchers or mixing his own chemicals making force knows what. Maxwell is rather quiet and rarely leaves his room if it’s not to get food or attend a briefing. The one time I was able to peek inside his room I was able to catch a glimpse of a wall FULL of rocks. And when I say full, I’m surprised the ship isn’t tilted constantly. I guess his thing is geology? I don’t have the nerve to ask him though. Amp… well he’s Amp. He doesn’t seem to have a specific specialty (outside of girls that is) but he is smart, you just wouldn’t know it of a first impression. I guess I’ll find out what his specialty is at some point along the way. And then there is Newt. He has been the one causing the most trouble on the ship. Every few hours you’ll see him running around the ship with a net, chasing after some animal that escaped his room. As you may have guessed Newt is a Xeno-zoologist. His room is full of cages, tanks, and terrariums. Master says I should be trying to get to know each of them better but I would much rather stay here with BB-42, and work on projects here. That has nothing to do with them, I’ve just always been like that. Even at the temple, I never liked our group training sessions and even one on one practice was a stretch for me. There were some people I didn’t mind being around however, I never missed a lesson from Master Yoda. He had such a calm and wise aura about him that I never got tired of. I guess that’s why I don’t mind hanging around Master Eran either, she has a similar air about her. Well, I think that’s all for today, Ender signing off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ender got up and out of his desk chair. He stretched his back forward then bent down to touch the floor. It was time for his training session with Master Eran. Ender never saw the point, but as she would put it. “better to have the skills and not need them then need them and not have them” and honestly Ender couldn’t argue with the logic of that. He needed to hurry though, he had about thirty minutes till he was supposed to be there and he had an experiment to check on. So, he grabbed his lab coat and threw it on as he dashed out the door, BB-42 rolling right behind him. When he got to the lab, he paused, Watt and Webber were in the lab looking at his experiment with genuine curiosity. They seemed to be conversing about it as well and hadn’t seen Ender run to the doorway. He tentatively stepped inside and walked up to them.  
“Hey guys, what’s up? Everything ok?” Ender asked as he walked to the table where his various beakers were.  
“Huh? Oh, hey sir, maybe you can help us out with this.” Watt said, snapping out of his fixation on the bubbling chemicals. “Do you know who this experiment belongs to? We can’t for the life of us figure out what it’s supposed to be.”

A smile crept over Ender’s face. He had suspected that this might be the case. It was something he had been working on for the better part of the week. While he could just give them the answer… where’s the fun in that?  
“huh that’s strange I saw someone in here working on it but not sure I saw their face. Maybe I can help. What have you two made of it so far?”  
Webber looked up after scribbling a few things on a note pad “Well, it’s not a known chemical compound in the republic database, it’s non-explosive and non-corrosive. The closest compound I’ve found to it is an expanding insulation foam used in construction, but this only matches 50% of its chemical makeup.”  
“Interesting, I think you’re on to something” ender took out a datapad and pretended to be scanning and analyzing the compound. “it is in a non-volatile, but still reacting state as if this is only part of a bigger reaction.”  
“My thoughts exactly” Watt piped up. “maybe if we had the missing reactant, we might know it’s purpose.”

“Well, I guess we could find out now couldn’t we.” Ender grabbed a pipet and removed a small sample from the larger beaker. He knew what he was doing of course. “ok I say if we just start mixing chemicals in with it, we could find out what it does right?”  
“I mean…” Watt looked cautious “as much as I would like to know are you sure that’s a good idea? I mean, what if it reacts poorly?”  
“oh, you worry too much commander. It will be just fine. Now let’s see…. I choose this one.” Ender grabbed a seemingly random chemical in a small vile. Now obviously this was the missing ingredient, not just some random one. He poured it into the beaker then ender took a step back, while this was his experiment, he was only about 75% sure it would work properly, and not blow up. The liquids mixed together and started to bubble and steam. Then in an instant, it began to expand at a rapid rate, causing foam to spread all over the countertop. It was a red foam that soon hardened leaving a mess all over this area of the lab. It had gotten onto the floor and the cabinets and so on. Watt and Webber just stared at the violent reaction, and the mess created. Ender just took out his datapad and began taking notes.  
“Well, that worked a bit too well… maybe I don’t need as much of each substance as I thought.” Ender went up and knocked on the foam. “it certainly did harden, but how hard I wonder?” he grabbed a scalpel and tried to cut into it to no avail. He took a hammer out of his tool belt and hit it, not a dent. “Welp it does work as intended that’s for sure.” Ender turned to the two clones as he said this.  
“You mean to tell me…” Webber started  
“That this was your experiment the entire time and didn’t say anything?” Webber continued his sentence  
“You just about gave us a heart attack” Watt concluded.  
“Ha yeah I bet, don’t worry I’m not dumb enough to go mixing random chemicals. This is something I’ve been working on to……”  
Enders words were but off by a rather irritated voice coming over the ship’s intercom.  
“ENDER I SWEAR BY THE FORCE IF YOU’RE NOT DOWN HERE WITHIN THE NEXT TWO MINUTES I WILL PUT YOU ON JANITORIAL DUTY FOR 10 CYCLES!”  
Ender froze and looked at the time. He was late for practice by almost five minutes; he had gotten too carried away with the experiment.  
“Shoot, well guys I’ve got to run. Would you mind calling someone to dispose of the mess for me? Thanks!” As Ender said this he was already dashing down the halls. He had to make it to the other side of the ship in two minutes. Using an occasional force speed burst he made his way down the halls, even jumping down several flights of stairs at a time, buffeting his fall with the force. BB- 42 wasn’t behind him anymore but he knew where he would be. Ender had seemed him take an air duct and start heading towards the training room. Ener continued running, he could see the door right up ahead, by his calculations, he would reach the room with exactly 5 seconds to spare… as he reached the door, it flung open automatically, and as he entered, he saw Master Eran reach for the intercom button most likely about to call him again.  
“Hey master, looks like I’m right on time, sorry I’m late, I got a little carried away in the lab. I made this substance that…”  
“Tell me later padawan, right now it’s training time, you’re late enough as it is and we have a schedule to keep. Now we’re going to start with some lightsaber practice. You did remember your saber, right?”  
“Of course, master what do you take me for a youngling?” Ender reached for where it saber should be and… it wasn’t there. He patted franticly around his belt. It had to be there he didn’t think he had forgotten it… there was a loud banging from above them, followed by the clank of metal on metal, followed by a droid screaming  
“WAAAAAAAAA” **THUD** BB-42 fell onto the floor right behind Ender. Without missing a beat, he rolled up to his side and opened a hatch in the side of his body. And extended Ender’s saber.  
“Ah thanks buddy, I knew I hadn’t forgotten it”  
In truth, Ender had forgotten it. But BB-42 had seen it lying on the bed and grabbed it for him.  
Master Eran smirked, clearly, while annoyed at her padawan, had enjoyed the droid’s antics.  
“Alright mister padawan, let’s get started.” She took off her cloak and draped it over a nearby console. She then took her saber staff off her belt.  
Ender took his lab coat off and grabbed his Saber from BB-42. We will run through the basic practice forms to warm up then, we’ll move on to light sparing. She ignited one end of her saber, treating it like a standard saber, not a staff. Ender nodded and ignited his own. “Ready? Begin! 1,2, 3,4…” master Eran counted each of the moves in the practice form as their sabers clashed each time. “9,10 good. Again” they repeated it several times before they would stop. Ender felt his saber begin to feel more comfortable in his hand as he warmed up. The push and pull of the sabers against each other. The familiar force behind his master’s saber staff. His feet moved in the familiar stance changes; his arm flowed to hit his Master’s saber right where it should. These were forms he’s known since he was a youngling. This practice form was the first thing taught to saber wielding younglings. And while he had never enjoyed saber work as much as other students, he knew this form like the back of his hand. After going through these several times, alternating attacking and defending each time they stopped. Ender grabbed a drink of water before igniting his saber again. Now, this was the real practice. Light sparing was unpredictable, these weren’t practiced sets of moves Ender had memorized, this was him against his master. They weren’t trying to kill or injure each other, but he knew that didn’t make a difference in how his master would fight. He readied himself and gave his master a nod. They rushed toward each other and the sabers clashed. Ender immediately went into defense mode. He needed to gauge (or try to anyway) what his master was going for before he went on the offensive. He got the sense she was pressuring him to attack. He knew he went defensive way too often, and she had made it clear he should be attacking more. The way she would leave herself open during certain swings, or would step into a space he should be able to easily attack from. He got the message. He blocked her next side swing, then instead of just blocking this time he pushed it off and took a step forward, swinging his saber towards his mater’s side. She blocked it easily. Ender continued, pushing forward, trying to push her backward during the fight. He was succeeding if only slightly. He decided he would try and trip up his master’s flow… literally. He aimed a strike towards his master’s left side. Which she of course blocked, but that was part of the plan. Now she was slightly off balance. Then Ender gave her a smirk. This more than anything threw her off because he never smiled while doing Saber practice. She gave him a confused look back only to see her apprentice disappear from Infront of her. Ender ducked down and extended his leg towards her right side, then swung it around tripping his master over.  
Eran was surprised. She had never seen him try something so daring. Against any other opponent, she would have simply jumped over the leg and taken advantage of the opponent’s venerable position. But this was so out of character for Ender that she was sure this want what he was doing. All of this went through her head on her way down to the ground. She landed flat on her back. Ender then came over her. A strike straight downwards, and Eran’s saber was not in any position to block it. Well, at least that would be the case If she had a normal saber… Eran ignited the other end of her saber staff right in time to catch and block the strike. Now she had the advantage. Sure, she was on the ground, but Ender had never gotten her here before. And she knew that he had no clue how to handle an opponent who was grounded, as was obvious by the last attack. Their sabers were still locked together. He was still pushing down, probably hoping she would yield to him. But Eran knew better, and besides, he needed to learn. She shoved the sabers off to the side stabbing hers into the floor. His saber slid down the blade slamming into the floor. While he was caught off guard she quickly pushed up, leaving her saber stabbed in the ground. She flipped over Ender landing behind him, extinguishing her saber and pulling it towards her, then reigniting it in her hand just in time to catch ender as he turned around to strike at her.  
Ender turned around, swinging his saber low, hoping his master would block it. she had just pulled her saber to her, and he knew she would only have time to choose one strike to make hopefully he could make her strike downward so he could continue the offensive. But as he turned Ender realized he was too slow. He could already see the tip of the yellow blade out of the corner of his eye. He stopped his turning, right as the saber was Infront of his nose. His master stood there aiming her saber right at his head. That was match.  
“That was quite the move. You’ve grown bolder.” Master Eran said as she Extinguished and placed her saber back on her belt.  
“Yeah, thanks, I thought I should probably take your advice and go on the attack more often.”  
“That is true and you did well, but you must know what to do when an opponent is on the ground. That overhead strike was too reckless, and in a real fight would not have been the ending blow you wanted it to be. For the rest of our time, we will practice this. Both if your opponent is on the ground, and if you find yourself on the ground as well. We shall use training sabers while practicing, wouldn’t want either of us losing a limb.”  
“Yes master,” Ender said as he switched his real saber out for a training saber and got to work. They spent the next few hours practicing grapples, strikes, spins, etc. all while on the ground. Occasionally while on a break or when he would look up while practicing, he would see one or more of sigma Squad looking down and watching the training with great interest. The Master and Padawan continued till it was time for dinner.


	6. Chapter 5

Journal Entry 170:  
It has been almost a week and our mission details have been made clear to us… and we are only a few hours from Genosis. Apparently, there have been rumors of the occasional ship leaving the planet, and it isn’t Venusian. So we have been sent to do… surprise surprise a geological survey. The republic had thought all weapon facilities were destroyed at the beginning of the war. But it seems like there might be more going on than they had expected. So we have been sent under the guise of scientific research as to not spark another possible incident. Our real mission however is simply to scan the surface for hidden bases and remap the tunnels made by the genosions. The plan is for us to stay in orbit for a day, then go down to the surface where Maxwell and I are to do a closer scan where a possible factory would be located. If we find anything we are to report to the republic immediately, if nothing is found then we are to stay and continue to scan for more data on the tunnels below. I know Jedi are not supposed to be afraid, and that fear leads to anger blah blah blah. But I can't help that there's a nagging sense in the back of my mind that something is going to happen.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
There's a knock on Ender’s Door.   
“Come in,” Ender said rotating his chair around.   
The door swooshed open and there stood Master Eran. She was in more casual clothing, one of the rare occurrences for her. She had a box in her arms along with a datapad ontop.   
“so you’ve read the mission briefing I presume? I felt your mood shift from across the ship. What's going on?” She invited herself in and sat on his bed setting the box beside her and looking at Ender expectantly.   
“Yeah, I did, and honestly master I'm not sure about this mission. Somethings telling me this isn't going to go as planned. I keep having these visions as I try to sleep and I wasn’t able to last night, and it has only worsened since I read the briefing.” Ender turned to face her on the bed, closing his holojournal as he does so.   
“ah yes, many Jedi go through this at one time or another. In fact, hundreds of years ago, during the time of the peace, almost every Jedi had visions of the future, no however full visions are rare, and even fractions like you are having don’t come to most. I myself have never had one, but let's see what I can do to help. After all, I am so incredibly wise.” She says that last part with a wink and a hint of sarcasm in her voice.   
Ender closes his eyes and tries to tell his master what he remembers of his vision. “it's hard to describe. It’s a series of colors and symbols and images all unfamiliar to me. I feel a hard sense of foreboding, almost like there is more going on than we can see. I see these shapes that I think are supposed to be people. There are two in this empty space. Then hundreds of these dots enclosing on them. The scene is then swept by this orange almost like a spilled ink well sweeps over a sheet of paper, erasing over everything. Then I feel calm like this orange is meant to be here. Then I am thrust outwards, through an atmosphere of a planet I don’t know and I see a fleet of starships, at least three if not four companies worth. Then it all goes black and I wake up in a cold sweat. And as I try to sleep again, the only thing that fills my vision is hundreds of dots behind my eyes.” He opened his eyes and looked toward his master, she was staring at him deep in thought, concern clear on her face.   
“hmmm visions are tricky, we never know when these events take place if they are events at all… it is best not to dwell on them too much but do not ignore them fully. I will be on comms with you for when you're down on the surface and if you feel like something is going wrong you tell me and we will pull you out. Or I will come down how does that sound?”   
Ender nodded. “Thank you, master. I would appreciate your voice in my ear while on the surface.”  
“good now up you get,” Master Eran stood from the bed, “we start the scan soon, and I need my best man on the main scanner” she winked at him and Ender smiled. “oh, and one more thing” she gestured at the box she had brought in. “that was given to us at Coruscant I guess since we are heading into more active areas, we get some new gear. Pick what you want from the box and you can use the rest for whatever you like. I want to see you on the bridge in an hour.” She tousled his hair a little bit and then left the room.  
Ender went to the box and opened it. inside was a number of plastoid armor plates meant for various parts of the body. he may be a member of a research crew but that doesn’t mean he was not aware of what was going on outside. He has seen videos of Jedi Generals wearing this kind of armor on their bodies. Ender pulled pieces from the box and layed them out on the bed. He stared at them trying various pieces on and moving around seeing what was comfortable to move around in and what he felt gave him some good protection. He chose to use the forearm and handpieces, as well as the boots. The rest felt too restricted and uncomfortable. So, he put them back in the box and decided if he needed them, he would put them on later. He looked at the clock and found he still had some time till he had to be on the bridge. Se he brought the forearm armor to his workbench and decided they needed a bit of an upgrade. On the left arm piece, he installed a small datapad for quick access and coms in the field. He thought about something to put on the right one but decided against It for now. He woke up BB-42 and they went to the bridge. 

“coming out of hyperspace ma’am in 3… 2… 1…” WOOSH  
Ender entered the bridge as one of the crew members had brought them out of hyperspace. Ender looked out the front windows. The stood Genosis a large red planet with debris scattered in the atmosphere. There was an air of silence as we all stared at the sight out of our window. We all had known what happened here just a few months ago. This was the place where it had all started. The battle here threw the galaxy into a full-scale war.   
Master Eran broke the silence. “alright listen up everyone!”  
Ender now realized that almost the entire crew was on the bridge, Sigma Squad, the research team, and the bridge crew. The only people who weren’t here were the people in charge of keeping the engine core in check.   
“I understand there are a lot of feelings about this place, but we have a mission to do. Let's start these in-orbit scans, so we can get to the surface tomorrow. The sooner we start the sooner we can leave this wretched place. As you know this is not a simple geological survey, if you find anything suspicious at all you contact me or Ender at once. If both of us are unoccupied, then you may report to Sigma Squad who will handle anything until we are available. Now let's go!” 

Everyone who was on the bridge immediately reported to each of their stations. Ender had rarely seen his master so tense and serious before. But then again this was probably the most important mission they had ever been assigned. He made his way to his science station on the bridge and plugged in BB-42 and they began their atmospheric scans. Over the course of the next twelve hours or so, he would scan the entirety of the surface. Not only looking for suspicious activities but also compiling data for solo maps incase the republic had to engage. This was not apart of the original mission; it was Ender’s idea and he was given permission as long as it did not interfere with his normal duties. So, he was having BB-42 run a map creation program as the scan data came in. He would be here analyzing data for a good while so he plugged in some earphones, put on some music, and settled in for the long haul.


	7. Chapter 6

Journal Entry 171  
I am currently writing this in the middle of the night after waking from the same vision I’ve been having. I thought about waking Master but I didn’t want to bother her. We ended up finding a very suspicious spot on the planet's surface. It was a large metallic mass with a large amount of energy flowing to it. we sent a notice to the Republic and the council, and now in about 5 hours Maxwell and I are going to the surface to collect rock samples. AKA see what this thing is in greater detail. we have permission from the Genosian capital to land on the surface. I'm going to try to sleep again let’s hope I can. I need to be on high alert in the morning.   
*ping….ping…ping* the door chime to ender’s room was going off and ender was still fast asleep.  
“What should we do? Do you think he's dead?”  
“from what you bucket head? He probably is still asleep”  
“yeah was probably up late with a project or something”  
“Should we go in? I mean I don’t want to get in trouble”  
“I'm sure we will be fine Amp, we are twenty minutes late as is and the general sent us to wake him up.”  
*woosh*   
The door slid open and in walked Amp, Maxwell, and Watt. They stood and looked at the Jedi currently on his side facing away from the door. The lights were off and BB-42 was in his charging bay. Watt hit the light switch.  
“Hey sleepyhead rise and shine time for”, Watt took a deep breath before he continued “SCIENCE!!!”   
With that Ender startled awake, sitting up and letting out a small shout, much to the chagrin of the chuckling clone troopers in his room.   
“KaraBAST you guys jezzzzzzee couldn’t you have I don’t know not shouted or woken BB up?” Ender gestured to the droid who looked just as bewildered as Ender did, apparently, he was startled awake as well.   
“well, that wouldn’t be half as fun. Now someone boss is waiting for you in the hanger bay. Make sure you’ve got all your gear cause you won't be coming back till you're back.” Watt said between chuckles. The three clones left the room to let Ender get ready. He got up and got dressed fitting on his new armor and grabbing his backpack which he filled with the gear he needed. He then attached his saber at his hip. He and BB-42 then left the room and dashed to the hangar bay. 

Master Eran stood in front of the modified LAAT with her arms crossed as Ender arrived. “padawan what happened to waking up?” she said with a stern face.   
“I apologize, master, I was tired from the scans yesterday and then it happened again in the middle of the night, I guess I just slept through the alarm.”  
When Ender noted the vision, her face softened. “well that’s alright you're not that late anyways. I presume you are all ready to go immediately?”  
“yes master BB and I are ready”  
“Good Maxwell and you will be taking this down to the surface your goal is to see if you can scan the possible factory down below. If anything and I mean ANYTHING happens you call me immediately. We are not allowed to keep the LAAT down there so we will have to pick you up. Now get going and may the force be with you.”  
Ender and maxwell hopped in the LAAT and launched towards the surface.   
“Ok kid let's try to get this over with as fast as possible. I don’t like being here as much as you. This place is one big graveyard for my brothers. Let's scan that factory and get out of here.”  
“don’t you mean suspected factory?” Edner asked   
“heh, do you really think the genosions are building anything else? Those insects are as evil as they come especially their leader Poggle the lesser. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was planning a counter-attack on the republic right now”  
Ender gazed out the window in silence. They landed kicking up the dusty ground. They got out and set up a small tent to house their equipment. They did not land far from the suspected sight, but far enough away that they would be considered a threat. They began taking readings and measurements but that was all just a ruse. BB-42 was running an in-depth scan of the surface. It took several hours and by this time it was afternoon. They had filled the time by sending various bits of data up to the main ship. It was all random scientific data nothing of real value or importance. It was mainly just to keep the ruse up as long as it took for BB to finish the scan. After a few minutes BB-42 began franticly beeping he completed the scan and projected it on his holoprojector for Ender and Maxwell and what they saw was astonishing. A massive underground factory practically filled with battle droids.   
*radio crackle* “Ender! …well! Get… of ther..!” Master Eran was yelling through comms but it was coming in cracked and distorted  
“repeat that General we can't hear you” Maxwell got on the comms immediately  
“BB-42 shut it all down I had a bad feeling about this” Ender began throwing Data chips into his pack  
“E..d… ell… get…re”   
“dang it something is interfering with our Comms, Ender look outside and see if there is a sand storm or something.”  
“There aren’t many sand storms on this area of the planet Maxwell” Ender opened the tent door and froze immediately. “hey uh maxwell I think I found the problem”  
“Freeze Republic scum! You are being ambushed by the glorious separatist Alliance!”  
Ender was face to face with a B1 battle droid and behind him had to be thirty more. He couldn’t move. He had analyzed the anatomy of these machines how they work, their A.I. everything. But nothing had prepared him to be face to face with one.  
“You will come with us and talk to the glorious Geonosian leader Poggle the AAAAAA!”   
There was a blaster shot behind Ender and the head of the battle droid had disappeared.   
“Come one kid They are jamming the comms, quit standing there and help me take them out. Ignite that Lazer sword and get on it!”  
Maxwell at this time at drawn out his blaster and was taking aim and began pecking them off one by one. Ender snapped out of his fear and pushed it aside. He ignited his saber, the bright blue blade standing out against the red landscape around him.  
“A JEDI!!! Call for reinforcements!” a B1 with a yellow stripe called out. “Blast 'em!”  
The battle droids began to fire. Ender tried his best to block all the shots and bounce them back to hit the droids. He was able to take a few out but his combat experience was zero.   
“quick kid we need cover. Get to the rock that way!”  
Maxwell pointed to a large rock about fifty yards south and began to make his way backward firing as he did.   
“BB let's go!” Ender shouted as he began to back up as well they reached the rock and the battle droids just seemed to keep coming   
“here kid take cover” Maxwell placed down an energy shield with their backs to the rock and the shield in front of them to the droids. “this should hold them for a minute”   
“BB-42 try and get through to master we need help. If anything you need to send her the droid factory info.”   
BB got right to work his antenna moving around franticly. Meanwhile, the droids were inclosing on them. Blasters firing non-stop and there seemed to be more than before. The sound was non stop energy collisions and ender saw the field begin to weaken he just stood there against the rock the shield getting thinner and thinner he could see that they were completely surrounded he felt blaster bolts pelting the rock as well and he knew that either the rock or the shield would give way, it was just a matter of which one gave first.   
“keep blasting! We will claim them as prisoners for our amazing separatist alliance!”   
Ender knew the shield was about to give way he closed his eyes and tried to feel his master with the force to give her a last message. “” I’m sorry master, I wasn’t successful even after the trust you put in me of the mission. I should have…”” “AAAAAAAAAA” enders thoughts were interrupted by a droid’s scream. He opened his eyes, the shield was gone but the droids had stopped firing seemingly confused by something happening in the back of her ranks. He tried to see what it was. he saw a blur of orange in between some droids as A green blade sent droid heads flying upwards. The figure then jumped and landed right in front of Ender. They stuck their hand out to them.   
“The name is Ahsoka Tano. My master got your distress signal and we came as soon as we could.”  
“Thank you, nice to meet you, and…Your master?” Ender said taking her hand and shaking it as he asked about her master about 25 battle droid heads were shot into the air a blue blade was whirring through the mass of droids who were now focusing their blasters on the more obvious threat.   
“Yeah master Anakin Skywalker, anyways can you fight it will take the four of us Jedi to get through these guys.”   
“yeah I think so… wait four?” at that moment Ender saw a yellow light fly across the battlefield sawing through a line of battle droids. He recognized it immediately it was Master Eran’s staff. Ender felt a new wave of hope wash over him. His master had come to him and from what it looks like the rest of Sigma squad had as well. Ender ignited his saber, “lead the way Ahsoka” she gave him a grin and ignited her saber as well. She began to slash through the droids. And Ender followed. His mind ran through every single bit of saber combat his master had taught him. Slash, block, stab, slash, run, jump, the moves seemed to flow out of nowhere. Ender was making his way through backing up Ahsoka as she made leeway towards master Eran who was practically flying. She was flipping around, jumping, and twirling through the air taking out several droids as she went barely staying on the ground, and the droids were having trouble even landing a hit on her. Maxwell was behind him bringing up the rear shooting droids as they went. Eventually, they met up with Master Eran and Master Skywalker who were now together at the outside of the crowd of droids still managing to take as many out as possible. Master Eran looked Ender in the eyes, she didn’t say anything but a look of relief washed over her face. “get inside the LAAT hurry!” master skywalker shouted as he began backing up. “common!” Ahsoka said grabbing Ender's hand, running toward a LAAT still in the air. “when I say jump, jump! Ready… and... JUMP!” Ender force leaped keeping up with Ahsoka as they landed in the bay of the LAAT. Ender landed right on the edge and began to fall backward Ahsoka tried to pull him up but his bag wayed him down a good amount. A white and blue armored hand grabbed the front of his robe and yanked him in. “jeez kid theres no way a scrawny guy like you weighs that much what exactly do you have in your bag?” “a whole lot of data chips” “Ill say” master Eran and Master Skywalker jumped backwards landing perfectly into the LAAT. Maxwell and BB-42 were behind them launching grapple hooks at the LAAT and flying up to it. The clone trooper who helped him up banged on the outside of the cockpit and the LAAT took off.   
“master,” Ender spoke up, and master Eran turned to him she grabbed him by the shoulders.   
“Are you alright are you hurt? Did they get you? Thank the force you're safe.”   
“I am ok master, we got your transmission but you were all garbled how did you find us?”  
“Well as we were waiting for your transmission, suddenly a large number of Venator class starships came jumping out of hyperspace. Apparently, the republic base here had been attacked by a group of battle droids and they sent as many people here as possible. I Hailed Master Skywalker and he picked me up to come rescue you before the main battle began. We have to hurry back and get the aphelion out of here.”  
“well thank you Master Skywalker if not for you we would have been goners.”  
“don’t thank me thank your friend, he was the signal I picked up as we entered the atmosphere. If not for him we may not have found you”   
Ender sat next to BB-42 and gave him a pat on the head. The next thing he knew he woke up against some boxes in the hangar bay. As he came to he saw master Skywalker and Ahsoka loading in a LAAT. There was something he had to do something important… what was it…. RIGHT the plans!. Ender sprang up and immediately regretted doing so his head was pounding. But he had to get to master skywalker. “WAIT!” he shouted at them hobbling forward off balance the pain in his head was made worse by the shouting and he winced. Anakin gestured to Ahsoka and she jumped out of the LAAT and ran to him.   
“what's going on are you alright? Master Eran is finishing something with Master Skywalker what can I do?” she ran up and supported him a little let him lean on her shoulder.   
“here” he handed her a data chip from his pocket. “this is all the data we were able to collect on the surface. It has an updated map of the tunnels as well as the best layout we could get of the droid factory you guys will need it for the battle.”  
“that’s amazing… you were able to get all of that?   
“Yeah, I’ve been working on it since yesterday. Make sure it gets to who it needs to ok?”  
“ I will” she looked over at the Laat now in the air and beginning to leave the Hangar bay.”  
“Come on snips! We don’t have all day! Master Amundi won’t wait forever!”  
“Coming Master!” she made sure that Ender could stand before she began running towards the ship. She paused for a moment and turned towards him “by the way I like the way you fight with your saber.” And with that, she ran up and jumped into the LAAT the same as she did before.   
“Thanks…” Ender shouted back slightly perplexed. He didn’t think he fought in any special way. The pain returned which he hadn’t noticed had left until it came back. He began to fall but felt Master Eran’s arms wrap around him.   
“let's get you to the Med Bay Padawan. You’ve had a long day.”  
And that was the last thing Ender remembered before passing out again.


End file.
